Concept Mapping

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Concept Mapping

• Dr. Idna M. Corbett
• West Chester University

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Ausubels Theory

• David Ausubel is a psychologist who advanced a
  theory which contrasted meaningful learning from
  rote learning.
• Ausubels theory is involved with how individuals
  learn large amounts of meaningful material from
  verbal/textual lessons in school, as opposed to
  theories of learning developed in laboratories.
• Ausubels subsumption theory contends that the
  most important single factor influencing learning
  is what the learner already knows (Ausubel,
  1968).
• According to Ausubel, a primary process in
  learning is subsumption in which new material is
  related to relevant ideas in the existing
  cognitive structures.
• Ausubel proposes an instructional mode using
  advance organizers. He emphasizes that advance
  organizers are different from overviews and
  summaries which simply emphasize key ideas and
  details in an arbitrary manner. Organizers act
  as a subsuming bridge (Ausubel, 1963) between
  new learning material and existing related ideas.

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Meaningful Learning Contrasted with Rote Learning

• Rote Learning
• Arbitrary, verbatim, non-substantive
  incorporation of new knowledge into cognitive
  structure.
• No effort to integrate new knowledge with
  existing concepts in cognitive structure.
• Learning not related to experience with events or
  objects.
• No affective commitment to relate new knowledge
  to prior learning.

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• Meaningful Learning
• Non-arbitrary, non-verbatim, substantive
  incorporation of new knowledge into cognitive
  structure.
• Deliberate effort to link new knowledge with
  higher order concepts in cognitive structure
• Learning related to experiences with events or
  objects.
• Affective commitment to relate new knowledge to
  prior learning.

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Novaks Concept Mapping Technique

• The concept mapping technique was developed by
  Joseph D. Novak at Cornell University.
• Novak concluded that "Meaningful learning
  involves the assimilation of new concepts and
  propositions into existing cognitive structures".
• Novaks work was based on the theories of
  Ausubel.
• Novak and Gowan (1984) have developed a theory of
  instruction that is based on Ausubel's meaningful
  learning principles that incorporates "concept
  maps" to represent meaningful relationships
  between concepts and propositions.

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• A cognitive map is a kind of visual road map
  showing some of the pathways we may take to
  connect meanings of concepts.
• According to Novak and Gowan, concept maps should
  be hierarchical.
• The more general, more inclusive concepts should
  be at the top of the map, and the more specific,
  less inclusive concepts at the bottom of the map.

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What is concept mapping?

• Concept mapping is a technique for representing
  knowledge in graphs.
• Knowledge graphs are networks of concepts.
• Networks consist of nodes and links.
• Nodes represent concepts and links represent the
  relations between concepts.

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• Concepts and links are labeled.
• Links can be non-, uni- or bi-directional.
• Concepts and links may be categorized. They can
  be
• simply associative,
• Specified, or
• divided in categories such as causal or temporal
  relations.

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Purposes of Concept Mapping

• to generate ideas (brain storming, etc.)
• to design a complex structure (long texts,
  hypermedia, large web sites, etc.)
• to communicate complex ideas
• to aid learning by explicitly integrating new and
  old knowledge
• to assess understanding or diagnose
  misunderstanding

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Concept mapping as a student learning tool

• To learn course material
• Students can use concept maps to take class
  notes.
• Students can use concept maps to organize class
  notes or course material.
• To integrate course content
• Students can use concept maps to connect material
  learned throughout the semester.
• To integrate material across different courses
• Often students fail to see the relationship
  between different classes that they have taken.
• Concept mapping can foster a student's
  understanding of how different courses relate if
  they map the prominent concepts from different
  courses that they have taken (e.g. compose one
  map of terms from a statistics class and a
  research design class).

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• To assess their own learning. Concept maps can
  be used to assess changes and growth in the
  students' conceptual understanding as a result of
  instruction received in the course.
• Learning can be evaluated before a course begins
  (to evaluate students' prior knowledge), during
  the semester (to evaluate changes in the
  students' knowledge), and/or at the end of the
  semester (to evaluate the students' knowledge
  after all course material has been covered).
• Concept maps can be used to evaluate changes in
  learning over time and to evaluate end of course
  knowledge.
• A concept map can provide feedback to the student
  so that s/he can check her/his understanding of
  the material to see if any connections are
  missing.

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1. Identify the important terms or concepts that
you want to include on your map

• There are three strategies to identify important
  concepts to include concepts on a concept map
• An instructor generated list and students are not
  permitted to add their own concepts
• An instructor generated list but the students are
  allowed to add their own concepts to the list
• An entirely student-generated list of concepts on
  a particular subject
• For novice concept mappers, it is probably best
  to have the terms provided.

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2. Arrange concepts in a pattern that best
represents the information

• One can choose to use a hierarchical or
  non-hierarchical structure.
• The use of hierarchical or non-hierarchical maps
  may have different benefits in terms of pedagogy
  and assessment.
• Novice mappers may want to create their concept
  maps using post-it notes so that they can easily
  change the location of any concept before a final
  version is constructed.

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3. Use circles or ovals to enclose an important
term or concept within the topic

• Each circle or oval should enclose only one term
  or concept. However, terms can be more than one
  word.

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4. Use straight lines with arrows (single or
double-headed) to link terms that are related

• Each line should link only two concepts.
• However, there is no limit to the number of links
  stemming from any one term.
• Pay close attention to the direction of the
  arrowheads on the linking lines when labeling
  them.
• Each concept is defined by its relation to other
  concepts within the topic. Relations include
  superset, subset, attribute, part-whole.

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5. Use a word or phrase of words as labels along
the lines to designate the relationship between
two connected terms

• Each line should have a label that describes the
  relationship between the two terms it connects.
• Example

relationship link
relationship link
feedback loop link
mutual relationship link
mutual relationship link
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Examples of concept maps
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How to make concept mapping a fruitful exercise

• Students need to producing maps the more they do
  it, the better theyll understand the process.
• Begin with a simple topic, using a small number
  of concepts.
• Work through example(s) with the group, modifying
  the map where necessary using post-it notes can
  help to develop confidence and facilitates
  changes.
• Emphasize importance of thinking about all
  possible links.
• Emphasize importance of writing down the nature
  of the links.
• Emphasize that there is no single correct
  answer often more than one appropriate link.
• Emphasize importance of using arrows and their
  direction in describing the proposition.

From http//www.fed.cuhk.edu.hk/johnson/misconcep
tions/ce/learn/concept_map.htm
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References

• Ausubel, David P. (1968). Educational Psychology,
  A Cognitive View. New York Holt, Rinehart and
  Winston, Inc. Ausubel, David P. (1967). Learning
  Theory and classroom Practice. Ontario The
  Ontario Institute For Studies In Education.
• Ausubel, David P. (1963). The Psychology of
  Meaningful Verbal Learning. New York Grune
  Stratton.Angelo, T. A. and Cross, K. P. Classroom
  Assessment Techniques, A Handbook for College
  Teachers (2nd ed., p. 197). Jossey-Bass, San
  Francisco, 1993.
• Jonassen, D.H., Beissneer K., and Yacci, M.A.
  (1993) Structural Knowledge Techniques for
  Conveying, Assessing, and Acquiring Structural
  Knowledge. Hillsdale, NJ Lawrence Erlbaum
  Associates.
• Novak, J.D. (1991) "Clarify with Concept Maps A
  tool for students and teachers alike," The
  Science Teacher, 58 (7), pp. 45-49.
• http//cmap.coginst.uwf.edu/info/
• http//users.edte.utwente.nl/lanzing/cm_home.htm
• http//www-personal.umich.edu/7ejmargeru/conceptm
  ap/types.htm
• Use of concept maps in teaching
  http//www.fed.cuhk.edu.hk/johnson/misconceptions
  /concept_map/cmapguid.html